Robert Manning is a hiking guru. At the University of Vermont, he researches and teaches park managment, which in practice means that he does a lot of hiking. With his wife, Martha, he cowrote the book Walking Distance(Oregon State University Press), which details 30 walks for any hiker's bucket list. Sierra spoke with Manning about his book, his experience with park management, and the best trail in the world.

The subtitle of your book is Extraordinary Hikes for Ordinary People. Who's "ordinary"? I mean, what's the face of the American hiker today?

I think it’s quite a cross-section, but the "ordinary people" part of the book is something that Martha and I feel strongly about. That’s the main purpose of the book, really: to get people walking more. Compared with people in a lot of the countries we’ve visited, not a lot of Americans are out there walking. With this book, we’re trying to do something about that, to get people to explore and create and ultimately protect these places.

You have a strong connection to the John Muir Trail in particular, which you call one of your top 10 walks in the world.

I have a long and deep relationship with the John Muir Trail. When I graduated from college, it was 1968, and the Vietnam War was raging, and so I joined the Coast Guard. I enjoyed living in the city, but even more I enjoyed getting out to Yosemite. It really convinced me that I wanted something to do with the National Parks. That’s also how I became aware of John Muir and the Sierra Club.

I always get a kick out of hiking above the tree line, of visiting places that I’d been seeing in Sierra Club calendars for years, thinking, "I really want to go there." Hiking over John Muir Pass and then on to Gifford Pinchot Pass -- the legacy of American conservation is just written into the landscape. To me, there’s no mountain range that’s more beautiful and friendly and engaging than the Sierras. That, combined with the Muir legacy, makes the trail my favorite hike.

You’re an expert in park management. What’s your take on how the John Muir Trail is managed?

It has been around for a long time, so it’s well marked and well managed. One area where it excels is the permit system.

What makes a good permit system? The only innovation I’m aware of is the Grand Canyon's rafting permit system, which switched to a weighted lottery. I should also mention that you profile a hike along the Colorado River in your book.

The rafting waitlist was 20 years [laughs], and that can’t work. The John Muir Trail innovation is the simplicty of a single permit that cuts through two national parks and two U.S. Forest Service areas. It would be daunting if one had to get a permit from those four entities and then had to coordinate the dates. At Yosemite in general, they allocate things in a way that's easy for the user, even when it's not easy for them.

So nationally, we’ve got some good parks. What about internationally? In Walking Distance, you list a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as El Camino de Santiago, in northern Spain and parts of France.

UNESCO sites are very sucessfully managed. It’s the Parks Service ramped up on a global scale. For a country to get the status, they have to have a plan in place to manage it. And they take that very seriously.

El Camino de Santiago is a Catholic pilgrimage, and yet there’s a mix of people that there.

The mix, the diversity of people, on the Camino is probably the most on any trail that I’ve walked. We met people from all over the world. Even more impressive, we came across people of all age groups. The religious significance is obviously important, but I’d say that a large portion of the people we encountered were not walking for religious reasons.

In your book, you focus on provencial hikes like the Camino and wilderness hikes like the Muir Trail. What about urban hiking?

Martha and I have really begun to embrace urban walks. One that we did this summer is what’s called the River Thames Walk in England. It starts at the source in the Gloucestershire and goes right through London -- which takes three days -- and then on to the sea. Martha and I would like to include urban and suburban walks in a future book. We love, for example, that portion of the California Coastal Trail from Muir Beach south to Cliff House. We sort of christened it "the Golden Gate Way."

--interview by Cedar Attanasio / all photos courtesy of Robert Manning

April 22, 2014

The opening scene of Watermark, a new film from Edward Burtynsky and Jennifer Baichwal, creates a disorienting effect that leaves the viewer feeling tiny against the pure force of water. The film takes features 20 stories across 10 countries in what director Baichwal, Manufactured Landscapes and Payback, calls a “river-like rhythm.” Inspired by Burtynsky's images, the numerous stories create an overarching narrative around the ways we use, control and pollute water.

After working with Butynsky on Manufactured Landscapes (2006), Baichwal wanted to team up with the photographer again. His work had been the focus of her previous film about industrial manufacturing. When she saw the images he had been working on for a National Geographic essay about water in California, she knew it was the next film.

She felt that the dire tone of other environmental docs failed. Instead Watermark presents a visually compelling story that combines aerial vantages, macros shots and time lapses to present a holistic and artistic perspective. Baichwal said they wanted to capture the full reach of human interaction with water, resulting in a 90 minute film edited from 200 hours of footage.

Watermark moves between the expansive industrial projects around water, like China's Xiluodu Dam, which is six times the size of the Hoover Dam, and the individual human interactions with water, such as the water guard pacing the rice paddies of Yunnan, making sure no one diverts his family's supply. The lone guard’s patrol of trickling waterways contrasts with the Maha Kumbh Mela, a ritual gathering of 30 million people who bathe in a sacred river. Baichwal said the Maha Kumbh Mela served as the "spiritual connection to the water."

“We had broad and respectful ways of filming these stories,” Baichwal said. “Instead of having experts talking about it, we had the people living it.”

Another story focuses on the Dhaka, Bangledesh, leather tanneries that pump chemicals into the local water supply, highlighting the interconnectedness of different water usages. The same water used to process hides is later used for washing people and their clothes. In another scene the parched Colorado River Delta serves as a distinct contrast to the pools of Discovery Bay, a community built right onto the California Delta, built mere feet away from a body of water. California agriculture needs the scarce resource to produce the substantial amounts of produce it supplies the rest of the country, while the abalone farms near China’s Fujian coast are built into the water itself. There are parallels and divergences in how water is used by people around the world, but the recurring theme is that it is necessary for existence.

"It’s interesting living in Canada, which has about twenty percent of world’s fresh water supply. It’s very easy to take advantage of it," Baichwal said. "When you see the devastating effects of water pollution it’s impossible to take it for granted."

She wanted to create a greater awareness of and respect for water, but wanted to approach it different from other environmental documentaries. Instead of inundating viewers with interviews from experts, she chose a more philosophical approach. “We wanted to create a river - we wanted to immerse viewers in it,” Baichwal explained.

“I’m much more interested in understanding the complexity. Acknowledging complexity means not making quick judgements,” she said. “We worked hard on this film. Wanted to open up a space and move people. The power of film is that it can move you. The goal of the film is to do that and create an awareness, or expand our awareness, of this incredible natural force.”

Burtynsky’s studio is featured frequently as he makes edits to his book, Burtynsky-Water, which spans five years of work. The photographs were also part of a traveling exhibition in 2013, making this project a multi-platform experience.

March 19, 2014

23.5 million Americans live in food deserts, regions that lack access to fresh food. Ron Finley saw a need for produce in the food desert he called home and took action, sparking interest around the world, but more importantly, bringing his community together. The South Los Angeles resident taught us a few things about renegade gardening, and the importance of fresh food in his community's schools.

Bianca Hernandez: What led you to start guerrilla gardening?

Ron Finley: I’m not a “guerrilla gardener.” I’m a renegade gardener. A gangsta gardener. Guerrilla gardeners plant and then they bounce. My thing is to have ownership. I bring healthy food into a community that has none. Show people how easy it is. Help people to be able to design their own lives.

BH: Why is that important to South Los Angeles?

RF: This is a small section of the populace that has more disease and sickness than the larger population, and it’s by design. My thing is to self-empower the neighborhood, take matters into your own hands. Grow your own damn food.

BH: How can this be applied to marginalized communities beyond those in Los Angeles?

RF: Already has been -- healthy food is a basic need. Why should your food make you sick? For me, planting a seed in South Central [Los Angeles] has turned into a planet-wide movement. Kids in India are calling themselves gansta gardeners. I get calls from The Netherlands to London and everywhere in between. A lot of people are realizing food is our medicine. It doesn’t kill you right off, but it does eventually.

BH: Any current projects?

RF: Rooftop gardens are being put up in downtown Los Angeles to help feed the homeless. I’m doing consulting work with Los Angeles Unified School District. Kids are eating garbage and you expect their minds and bodies to develop? Grade school kids are having heart attacks, and it’s not from a lack of food, it’s from a lack of real food.

BH: What can someone do today in their community?

RF: Get a shovel, a pitchfork, and get your community together and grow your own food. You save money on food and health bills. Gardens don’t cost - they pay, and in more than one way. Build communities, build healthy bodies.

-- top photo used with permission from Ron Finley

Bianca Hernandez is an editorial intern at Sierra. She recently received her MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California and has written for various publications.

March 06, 2014

If you haven’t already been convinced to start biking to work, then prepare to be converted to the Tao of alternative transportation.Bikenomics: How Bicycling Can Save the Economy(Microcosm Publishing, 2013) by Elly Blue is both a study and a call to action. The book provides readers with examples of cities, companies, and communities that have become bike-centric and explores how these changes reverberate beyond a single person’s actions into a bigger boost to the overall economy. Blue shares some insights into her motives for writing the book and gives us five reasons to hop on a bike today.

What led you to write this book?

A few years ago, as the bicycle movement was starting to gain traction in a big way in the U.S., I noticed something: A lot of the arguments being made against bicycling were economic. Things like bicyclists are freeloaders, they're all rich, they're all poor, they don't pay for the roads, bike lanes and parking are bad for business. What these arguments all have in common is that they are wrong. But at the time, few bike advocates had the tools to effectively set the story straight. I thought I'd see if I could come up with some decent counterarguments -- and I ended up being surprised by just how strong the economic case for bicycling really is.

What outcome do you hope to see?

I'd like to see more commonsense transportation and development policy decisions become the norm in the U.S. Americans are really hungry for options -- anything but driving, which is extraordinarily expensive and stressful. In every place where bicycling has become a comfortable or even feasible option, it has just boomed. Sometimes that's a result of infrastructure, sometimes it's a result of development -- almost always it's the result of a popular movement. My goal with the book is to empower people to spread that movement.

What are five things people should know today about your book or biking?

Bicycling is unbelievably fun. And there are studies that suggest it makes you happier to get around by bike.

You can carry truly anything by bike, with the right setup. Or anyone.

Bicycling is something that has a disproportionately large impact on the economy and your own finances, and you don't have to wait for the government or anyone else to act before you can get started doing it. It's, ahem, "shovel ready."

Speaking of things that are easy and rewarding, some readers have reported making it through my entire book in less than a day. I tried to take a bunch of complicated budgetary and economic data and make it accessible, and this feedback suggests that I succeeded. So dive on in!

It's not just about biking. People who are passionate about social justice, local food, housing reform, energy issues -- any of these big-picture issues that can be tackled on the level of our daily lives and communities -- will find the book helpful in terms of framing and inspiration. All of this stuff is connected.

What has been the response so far?

So far, nearly all the feedback has been positive, even, surprisingly, from a lot of folks who aren't already into bicycling. Someone wrote on Amazon that they were inspired to give it a try, and that's about the best kind of review there is.

Can you talk a bit about how the bike can serve to do more for social change?

Bikes have proved to be excellent tools for various social movements -- and not necessarily ones that are directly bike-related. Bicycles allow free, flexible personal transportation all over a dispersed city. It's easy to ride in groups and be highly visible, but it's also easy to be strategic and speedy, carry a bunch of stuff, and never get stuck in traffic or end up circling looking for parking.

February 07, 2014

The importance of engaging youth in activism early on is not lost on Jordan Howard. Since attending Environmental Charter High School, a school with a curriculum focused on environmentalism, she has been attuned to those issues and how they connect with her own life. Howard, now 21, has been changing the face of youth engagement one classroom talk at a time.

While she may be currently taking the world by storm, Howard admits she was reluctant when first exposed to environmental curriculum at her green high school.

"There was resistance in the beginning because I saw no connection between me and environment," said Howard. It was after she saw the holistic benefits of environmentalism in her personal life that she felt empowered.

Howard saw first-hand the benefits of being exposed to environmentalism at a young age and seeks to ignite that same passion in youth across the nation, and even world. She approaches education through making it clear that change isn’t impossible.

“Whenever I heard about global warming or other issues, it was always doom and gloom,” she said. “Give young people solutions to environmental issues.”

November 22, 2013

Sustainability is an inherent practice in the clothing business — at least for co-founders of Appalatch Outdoor Apparel Co. Grace Gouin and Mariano deGuzman. In an effort to revolutionize the clothing industry, reduce textile waste, and promote a unique for-profit business model with non-profit ideals, Grace and Mariano recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for a knitting machine that works as a 3D printer and creates precise patterns and dimensions of a sweater without wasting a single iota of thread. We talked to the two clothiers about their Kickstarter campaign (they've currently received from donors about 60 percent of their goal of $50,000), cutting down on textile waste, a sheep-shearing Quaker named John, and creating long-enduring clothing for the "modern-day Indiana Jones."

So, can you talk a little about this futuristic 3D-sweater-making-machine?

GRACE: We're moving towards something called a Stoll knitting machine. In a way it's a 3D printer for sweaters, but it's not the traditional 3D printer that prints out the plastic kind of stuff. You can design any kind of sweater you want with this computer program and then the Stoll takes your yarn and knits it in the exact dimensions of what it is you're trying to make.

October 16, 2013

Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. She struggled in school until she met Bill Carlock, a high school science teacher who revolutionized her thinking. As an adult, she, in turn, revolutionized the design of slaughterhouses to make sure animals are relaxed and treated well before they're killed. Grandin, now an animal science professor at Colorado State University and the author of many books, including Animals in Translationand The Autistic Brain, is also the subject of an eponymous Emmy-winning HBO movie. We spoke with Grandin to find out how she views the meat industry today.

Q: What environmental suggestions do you make to improve cattle ranches?

A: One of the most important things you can do is really work on your grazing management programs. Rotate the grazing right, and then you can actually stimulate grass growth for the ranch and sequester more carbon.

Q: Have you worked with organic cattle ranches?

A: Yes. [Organic farming] doesn't give all the answers. Big agriculture and organic agriculture can learn from each other. Sometimes you need a little artificial fertilizer. Then there are things like crop rotation that the big farms can learn from the organic ones.

Q: You eat meat. How do you reconcile that with your love for animals?

A: Most of these cattle wouldn't even be born if people didn't eat meat. I feel strongly that we give animals a life worth living. And when it's time, a quick painless death.

September 13, 2013

Are jellyfish taking over? Dr. Lisa-ann Gershwin, author of Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of our Oceansand the director of the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Sciences, has outlined how rising temperatures and the toxicity of the earth's oceans have resulted in an increase in jellyfish blooms. We recently asked the marine biologist about the rise of the jellies and whether humans are smarter than brainless invertebrates.

Can you start of by telling me what Stung! is about?

It's about human impact on the oceans and the unexpected and unwanted consequences of jellyfish taking over. Nobody could have imagined that jellyfish could have done so well in damaged ecosystems.

There is a really powerful quote in your book: “Here we are at the dawn of a new millennium, in the age of cyberspace, and we are at the mercy of jellyfish.” What is the significance of that quote to you?

Despite all of our gadgets and all of our technologies and all of our good intentions and our good management models, despite our ability to do things right, nonetheless jellyfish are getting the best of us. We’re losing this battle to jellyfish. Mind you, it’s not their fault, we’re not losing the battle to ourselves because we want our cake and we want to eat it too. It’s our fault because we’re damaging the ecosystems to the point that they’re able to exploit that damage.

September 12, 2013

Photos of former model Carter Oosterhouse plaster the walls of many a dorm room. His pinup looks notwithstanding, Oosterhouse's real talent lies in knowing how to swing a hammer. A carpenter by trade, he caught attention after appearing on TLC's redecorating show Trading Spaces. HGTV then nabbed him to host Red, Hot & Green and Carter Can, both of which emphasize eco-friendly design. He's a regular on Oprah, showing viewers how to gussy up their homes in the greenest of ways. His nonprofit, Carter's Kids, builds parks and playgrounds in low-income areas. Oosterhouse took some time to answer our questions.

Q: How did you get into carpentry?

A: It started out as a summer job in the town I grew up in, Traverse City, Michigan. It was just something to do to make some money. My two older brothers taught me, and a neighbor took me as his apprentice. I would have never guessed that what started as a summer job would take me so far.

Q: What made you an environmentalist?

A: I blame my dad. He was always preaching. Whenever we'd have to wash a car or boat, we had to use biodegradable soap. In Michigan we have such big bodies of freshwater—they're among the richest commodities we have—so that's why my dad was so adamant. We didn't realize that it would, but stuff like that got stuck in our heads.

Q: What’s the greenest thing people can do when remodeling a house?

A: Going to a secondhand store and repurposing something. People toss things out without a second thought, and there are so many great items at secondhand stores. It’s easy and fun and helps keep the cycle of life for inanimate objects going. Think about all the objects filling up our landfills—granite, for example. It takes a little more effort to get from a secondhand store, but we would save a ton on landfill consumption by using it secondhand, as well as a good amount of money.

Q: What do you tell people who say that eco-remodeling is too expensive?

July 24, 2013

Abeni Ramsey began growing food in her
backyard so that she could feed her kids better fare than the Top Ramen sold at the corner
store near her home in West Oakland, California, one of the nation’s largest
food deserts. To buy fresh fruits and vegetables, the young, single
mother had to travel to another town. But proximity was just the first hurdle.
Produce didn’t come cheap — especially compared to a five-dollar case of instant
noodles.

While biking through Oakland, Ramsey
stumbled on City Slicker Farms, whose Backyard Garden Program gave her the
tools she needed to begin growing her own produce. Today, Ramsey, who studied agricultural development at UC Davis, feeds her kids
and her community, selling produce from her private farm, City Girl Farms, to
local restaurants. In April, she opened Township, a farm-to-table restaurant in
downtown Oakland, and relocated the City Girl Farmstore just next door.

Sierra magazine spoke to Ramsey about farming
for apartment-dwellers, the real reason people don’t eat their veggies, and the
need for diversity in the food movement.

Q.
How much of your own food do you grow?

A. Now that I live in East Oakland, I would
say I probably grow most of the vegetables that we eat and we happen to live in
produce-heavy household, so I would say maybe 30 percent. But all the produce
is from fruit trees that are around our house, so I grow a significant amount
of the fruit, and we collect significant amount of fruit. And we do have
chickens in the winter. Before, when I was living in West Oakland, I had oats
and chickens, as well as vegetables, and I didn‘t go to the grocery store. I
only went for the meat. Actually we produced a decent amount of food. It was 50
percent then, and now it’s about 30 percent.

Q.
Wait—you own chickens?

A. I do still have chickens. I had a
rooster at one point, but I had a neighbor who complained about it. I had to
get rid of it. And I had people complain about the goats, about the noise. It
was too much farm for people to take. It’s weird. It’s just this fear around
farm animals. We live in a neighborhood where dogs bark constantly. Almost
every house keeps a dog. That’s really interesting to me — how people have
become so unaccustomed to having livestock in the world. It’s not about noise
in general. It’s about them not being used to that particular noise.

Q.
You’re a single mother who’s managed to farm while raising kids, working, and
attending college. Are you human?

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